If there was any doubt about whether or not Frank Kratovil, Jr. would be amenable to using his prosecutorial skills in his race against Republican state Sen. Andy Harris for Maryland's 1st Congressional District, he put those to rest today.
"My opponent on the other side (Harris) has spent the vast majority of his time talking about what he is against," said Kratovil, 39, who had just returned from taking his family to Disney World after winning the Democratic primary. "People are tired of that."
Harris ran a bruising primary challenge to Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, stunning him with an 11-point victory
Kratovil went on to say that Republicans, including "active members" of the party who supported Gilchrest, have called to offer their support, and he has brought on Republicans for his campaign and touted his past elections as state's attorney in majority-GOP Queen Anne's County.
"Andy Harris is going to get zero cross-over vote. Zero," he said. "I think it's our race to lose."
GOP insiders have disputed that claim, touting a poll released yesterday showing Harris with a strong lead against Kratovil.
State Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor said the party would do "everything conceivably possible" to elect Kratovil and two other candidates, Donna Edwards, who beat Rep. Al Wynn in another hotly contested primary, and Jennifer Dougherty, the Democratic candidate who will face Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in the most conservative district in the state.
Cryor noted that they have signed on 49 "neighborhood leaders" for Kratovil, who have committed to speak to three people each about his candidacy. The party has assembled 151 volunteers for him, as well as similar volunteers for Dougherty.
Although all on hand spoke as though Dougherty had a fighting chance to win, and Dougherty herself made clear she would run an aggressive campaign, she faces not just an uphill climb against Bartlett, but possibly even a Mount Everest climb in a district that runs all across the state's Pennsylvania border, the only congressional district in the state where registered Republicans far outnumber Democrats. Specifically, the numbers are 195,084 to 146,227, with 59,642 independents, according to the most recently available information.
